The Big Stick is on The Way

“I have spent my life tracking down the murderers of yesterday. Mr. Timmerman is tracking down the murderers of tomorrow.” — Simon Wiesenthal

Surely you remember Teddy Roosevelt’s famous prescription for successful foreign policy: “speak softly, but carry a big stick.”

President Trump doesn’t rarely speak softly, but he’s been comparatively subdued recently when evoking Iran.

Now we learn that the Big Stick is on the way: the USS Theodore Roosevelt. A Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the Big Stick brings 104,000 tons of diplomacy to the Iran theater.

For awhile, we will have three carriers in theater, each with 72 combat aircraft. And like the USS George Washington and USS George H.W. Bush, it comes accompanied with an entire fleet of Aegis-class destroyers, frigates, and nuclear attack submarines.

My guess is that the Iranians will strike first. The economic blockade has got them panicking and flailing. They know their economy is collapsing and they just don’t know what to do.

All week long they have been claiming to hit oil tankers transiting through the Strait of Hormuz. And yet – zippo. Not a single confirmed attack from the US Central Command.

On the contrary, JP Morgan analysts said on Thursday that oil exports from the Gulf have averaged 17.5 million barrels/day for the past ten days, 98% of pre-war levels. The Saudis have resumed exports to the Red Sea. West Texas crude dipped below $90 this morning, and the Euros have agreed to release large amounts of Diesel from their stockpiles. Even Pakistan has said it is now enforcing the blockade on Iran.

Iran’s “secret” weapon, the Strait of Hormuz, has become as powerful as a wind-up toy with a broken spring.

And that’s why I say they will attack us before the midterms.

It may be that they have already started. Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu told Hannity on Thursday that Israel warned the Brits that Iran was planning to attack a US airbase in the UK. And what did the Brits do? “The very next day they slapped sanctions on us. On us!” Netanyahu said.

The ever-present IRGC Maj. Gen. Mohsen Rezai, arguably the number two of the regime after the gay (or deceased) ayatollah, hinted with a huge wink and a nod that Iran was behind the FlyDubai attempted hijacking.

True? Not true? Wait and see. But Social Media wags have put out a meme with a new call button above your airline seat: it has a blue and white Star of David…

Majles speaker Mohammad Baqr Qalibaf, the “moderate” former IRGC air force chief, said on Thursday that if Iran can not sell oil, “no one will sell oil.” And he threatened more attacks on the oil and gas infrastructure in the neighboring Gulf states.

Trump’s soft-spoken response to all this? “Either we blow them up or make a deal” — said like an airline steward, “Chicken or beef?”

The Euros may have thrown Congressional Republicans a lifeline by releasing Diesel stockpiles before the midterms, but at home they are in crisis.

German chancellor Merz lost a bi-election this week to the populist AFD (Alternative for Germany) in Saxony-Anhalt and appears clueless what to do next. His conservative party is steadily losing ground to the AFD, often described as “far-right” because they don’t want to see more Muslim immigration to their country.

Sweden is in the midst of post-election turmoil which saw the current center-right government bested by the Social Democrats 176-173. But the Social Democrats have so-far failed to form a government because their centrist allies are refusing to sit down with the Communists, who allegedly obtained 9% of the vote.

Allegedly…. Multiple investigations for voter fraud are underway especially among the Somali immigrant community which voted overwhelmingly for the Communists. Thousands of ballots that were pre-marked for Communist candidates have been discovered, and the authorities may order a re-vote in 11 districts – far more than the margin of victory for the Social Democrats.

Meanwhile, major French cities are burning. What started as a movement of high schoolers who rejected their politically correct teachers got hijacked by the former Communists of Jean-Luc Melanchon, who have been parading around Paris, Marseilles, Lyons, and other big cities with Palestinian flags and chanting slogans against Jews.

I discuss all of this, as well as the proposed F-35 sale to Saudi Arabia, on this week’s Prophecy Today Weekend. As always, you can listen live at 1 PM on Saturday in the Jacksonville, Florida, area on 104.9 FM or 550 AM or by using the Jacksonville Way Radio app.

Yours in freedom.

©2026 Kenneth R. Timmerman. All rights reserved.

PS: This letter is coming to you late because my former email provider cut me off without notice just as I was about to send last week’s newsletter, which you never received. They still haven’t said why they cut me off, and I’m still getting used to this new provider…

You can read last week’s post on the Trump-Xi summit at American Greatness.. Perhaps I was too harsh in my criticism of the media for the censors?

PPS: Retired USMC Colonel Grand Newsham and I tell Newsmax that the US needs to keep the pressure on the Iranian regime. “I agree with Mr. Timmerman,” Newsham said. “For one, he’s been right for a long time.” You can watch it here.